Piper is 11 months old!

Piper is 11 months old today! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. She is such a fun, sweet little girl and we love her so much! Morgan really loves interacting with her, making her smile and laugh. Though, the high-pitched screams that go along with this can be a little much. :-)

She's (finally) just learned to pull herself up on the furniture. She's a big girl, so I think it took her a while to build up her strength. She's eating finger/table foods so much better. Last night she even ate some of a hot dog! She's also quickly picked up on the sign for "more" and even says "mo, mo, mo." We don't know if she really gets what it means, but she likes imitating me when I do it.

We are leaving for vacation to California on Thursday. We can't wait to show her off to our family and friends.

New Blog Header

Love, love, LOVE our new pictures of the girlies! These are the beautiful shots done by the amazing Amy Waddington of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I'll include a post soon with more of them. The family shots turned out nice too.

Please note: I have been notified that my header is cut off some on the right side. I will fix this soon, but I am in the midst of vacation prep, so it may be a little while. I'll try to get to it before we leave.

Portland - Part Three

We had been telling Morgan all week that we were going to the Zoo that weekend. We went to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle a year ago and she wasn't all that interested. We were curious to see how she would do this time. The Oregon Zoo in Portland was beautiful! The kids had a great time and Morgan did seem to enjoy seeing the animals this time.

The eagle's nest

Checking out some fish with Daddy

In the farm exhibit

As tall as a polar bear?

Three girls and a hippo

After the Zoo fun and a nice nap (whew, they were exhausted!) we headed down to West Linn to see our friends Bob and Danielle. We knew Bob and Dani from our Golden Gate Community Church days in San Francisco. Dani had grown up in West Linn and they moved there about the same time David and I moved to Spokane. We had a wonderful time catching up and spending time with their two boys Nate and Cody. We wish we could have had more time with them.

Who are you? Says Nate.

Of course Morgan has to check out all the new toys

Nate flirting with Piper

This was a crack up! Morgan and Cody playing with their Mama's phones...techno kids

Bob, Cody and Danielle...Nate-Nate had gone Night-Night

What a great trip! I think we will be making it an annual jaunt. Now we are preparing for a trip to California in less than a week. Yikes! This trip was good prep for the next one...and this one will include flying with two kiddos. Wish us luck!

Portland - Part Two

Though we loved the time we had in Portland with family and friends, this trip had a purpose beyond that. As I have mentioned occasionally in this blog, I had a miscarriage in December 2006 when we first started to try to expand our family. That was a rough time for me. I really needed a place to use as an outlet to talk about my worries, my fears and how to move forward. During that time I was fortunate enough to find an online group for women who had been through the same experience. These women are from all over the country and are some of the most supportive, wonderful people I've "met." This year there were three "conventions" organized, one on Memorial Day weekend in St. Louis, this one in Portland and one to come in Washington D.C. in September.

We had five families attend our convention in Portland. Kelly was so generous to host a BBQ at her home. We had a great time meeting in person. I was nervous, but it really ended up feeling like we'd know each other forever...though it has been three and a half years for me. As you will see, these families have now been blessed with a few kids each now! It was so fun to see these little "sticky babies" play together. We've all seen tons of pictures of these kids and it was almost surreal for me to see them in one place. Here's some photos from the fun:

The fun continued at the Oregon Zoo on Sunday...more to come!

Portland - Part One

We had a FABULOUS trip to Portland last weekend! I was anticipating issues with lots of things, the drive, sleeping, just how the girls would do outside of their regular routine, etc. Yes, we had a few challenges and came home exhausted, but in the end it was well worth it. Here's part one of our journey and visit:

Stopping at Subway in the Tri-Cities on the way down. We found that stopping every two hours for food/snacks and diaper changes worked well. Morgan is saying..."where's my milk?"

Enjoying the drive with Mr. Bear. This bear was a great entertainer for both kids. It really saved the day...thanks neighbors!

OK, this was the one major meltdown on the trip down. We made the mistake of stopping at a rest area right next to the Columbia River. Morgan thought we were going swimming and was extremely disappointed we made her get back in the car without a dip. A little time playing with Mama's iPhone helped, but she was still a little pissed. It didn't help that she didn't nap at all on the ride.

The arrival at (Great) Aunt Anne and Uncle Bruce's house was met with a rocking horse for Morgan to ride on. I think we took this picture the next day, but she was on that horse as soon as we arrived and many times each day during our stay.

Aunt Anne had some great advice from her friends to empty out a bottom drawer in the kitchen and put some plastic, colorful items in for Piper to play with. She made a beeline to it and had a great time!

There is a gorgeous park close to Anne and Bruce's house. Of course when Morgan saw the swings she was in heaven! We tried to get her to play on the other equipment and slides with not much luck.

Relaxin' with Uncle Bruce and cousin Sara. We enjoyed having several visits catching up with Sara too.

On Friday afternoon David and I were able to get away for a few hours during Morgan and Piper's naps (thanks Anne and Bruce!). David suggested the Ponzi Vineyard in Beaverton. It was a great idea! It was such a beautiful day and the vineyard was lovely.

These are bocce ball courts. Wouldn't that be fun to bring out a group of friends, share a bottle of wine and snacks?!

Thanks Aunt Anne and Uncle Bruce for being so generous with your time and letting us stay at your beautiful home. We LOVED seeing you and watching you get to know our girls. We'll be back again, we promise!

Stay tuned for Part Two...

Wordless Wednesday: Peek-a-boo!

Spirit Lake

Our area has a ton of beautiful lakes. That's something I did not appreciate so much growing up, since I was so used to the bay and ocean being the closest bodies of water. Many people here have second homes on lakes and rivers and spend much of the summer there. It is great fun for the kids.

Our spontaneous friends Amy and Trevor asked us Saturday morning if we wanted to head up to Spirit Lake, about 40 minutes Northeast of us in Idaho. After a bit of contemplation we decided to ditch our regimented selves (the ones who adhere to toddlers and baby's nap times) and go for it!

We found a small strip of sand next to a "resort" (in quotes because this resort was neither large, nor luxurious), slathered the girls with sunscreen and waded in.

Morgan and Taylor getting their sunscreen on

The resort manager gave Morgan a "Dum Dum" lollipop...it was coconut flavored

Piper patiently waiting her turn

Spirit Lake

Amy and Piper

Morgan, David and Taylor in her tube

Morgan LOVED the water! She had to be held back to get her sunscreen on. She waded right in, not bothered by the cold at all. Long after the rest of us were done, she would keep going back in saying "Mama water too!" over and over until I went in with her. Piper cried for a while when her chubby toes hit the cold water, but with some gradual dipping and swishing she adjusted and did a little kicking and splashing.

Trevor wading in (it was cold at first dip, but warmed up)

Morgan and me

Piper sitting pretty

Ice Cream!!!

I was so proud of Morgan for her good progress reports last week! I decided on Friday that she deserved an ice cream treat. We don't give her a lot of sweets at home, so something like this is a real special event for her.

During my pregnancies I started a "tradition", well, more a "habit" of giving myself a treat of a Cappuccino Blast at Baskin-Robbins once a week. Sometimes David gets one for me when he's out on his sales calls, but every once in a while I take both girls with meto the store. This time we walked in and Morgan immediately started saying "please, please, please..." over and over. I think she'd figured out what they sell there. I told her to sit down at a table and I presented her with a cup of vanilla ice cream... sorry no bright blue, bubble-gum ice cream for this kid. We'd like to avoid that for as long as possible. Ick.

She did so well eating it all by herself! Only once did she get too big of a bite. It was so cute, she scrunched her eyes together real tight...I can only imagine the possible "brain freeze" she was experiencing. Once she finished, she pointed at the candy toppings and said "please, please, please" again. We've gotten to know the owner a bit since we're regulars and she was so sweet and let Morgan have a few gummy bears. Then Morgan didn't want to leave the store. I gently coaxed her out, promising a few sips of my Blast. No worries, she had a great nap that day.

Oh, and she kept saying "3", "1" several times while we were there. It took me a minute to realize she was saying 3,1 for 31, thirty-one flavors. Too funny!

A garden post for Dad

Our Pumpkin for our "Pumpkins"

As it has finally turned warm here, we have some progress with the lovely "garden" my Dad planted for us. Unfortunately right after he planted it we had a freeze. We had to replace the plants and we're not sure if we did as good a job as he did, but it's coming along. Here's what we've got...

Our "disappearing" watermelon. We think it might have not had enough of a water source here...its is nowhere to be found!

The basil is coming along

Peppers...not so good. There's a little greenish-yellow thing trying to hang on.

The tomatoes...Early Girl on right and Roma on left. Looking better than anything else.